


Playing Pretend

by akimikono



Category: Naruto
Genre: Childhood, Childhood Memories, Family Bonding, Foreshadowing, Gen, Hokage, Hokage Hatake Kakashi, Playing Pretend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-29 06:28:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12625188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akimikono/pseuds/akimikono
Summary: As a child, Kakashi loved playing pretend with his father. His favorite game was pretending to be the Hokage. Sometimes playing games can teach you valuable life lessons - and sometimes it's just a game.





	Playing Pretend

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a piece of Kakashi Week artwork by thefoxthief on Tumblr. Also a gift for her. 
> 
> First time writing for Sakumo and young Kakashi.

 

Sakumo held the cardboard hat up in the light, inspecting it for holes or too-thin patches of paint. Scraps of white paper hung down from either side of the hat and a lopsided fire kanji was shakily drawn across the front. Their seemingly simple project had turned into 3 hours of crafting, and now was time for the big reveal. Sakumo looked down at the tiny boy standing before him, wrapped in a white sheet up to his nose, his dark eyes looking up in anticipation of approval or rejection. Sakumo’s face broke into a smile and he looked over the makeshift hat in his hands.

“So,” he said calmly as he handed the hat back to Kakashi, “you’re the Hokage?”  

Kakashi struggled to free one hand and grasp the hat, plopping it back on his own head. He nodded simply, the hat crinkling with every move. The edges of Sakumo’s eyes crinkled as he smiled wider and gave a dramatic, deep bow to the boy.

“It’s such a pleasure to meet you, Hokage-sama. What brings you all the way out here to my house?”

Kakashi pushed the hat upwards so he could see, and gave a small smile himself. “Tousan, you can’t say it’s a ‘pleasure to  _meet_  me’. You already know me.”

“Oh, right. I’m sorry. It’s a pleasure to  _see_ you again, Hokage-sama. Still - what brings you out here, I wonder, to my humble abode?”

“Tousan, I don’t know what an abode it.”

“It’s a house, Kakashi.”

“Then why don’t you just say ‘house’?”

Sakumo hummed and his eyes twinkled, “Alright. I’ll just say ‘house’ from now on. Is that okay?”

Kakashi nodded firmly and pulled up the sheet around his shoulders as it slipped away from his grasp. “Tousan, you don’t need to use big words like that. If you mean house, then say ‘house’. If you mean something, then you should just say it. Don’t say something people won’t understand if you can just say something easier. Okay, Tousan?”

Sakumo laughed and nodded, kneeling down to look Kakashi in the face. “Okay, I’ll do that. So - now, what is the Hokage doing in my house?”

Kakashi looked around the living room and shrugged his shoulders. “Being Hokage is hard. I needed a break. Tousan —”

“Yes, Hokage-sama?”

“No, Tousan - when I call you ‘Tousan’, I’m not the Hokage. I’m Kakashi. But if I don’t call you ‘Tousan’, then I’m the Hokage. Okay?”

“Of course, Kakashi. What was your question?”

“Do you think the Hokage can take a break?”

“I don’t know,” Sakumo admitted, straightening the hat on Kakashi’s head. “The village needs the Hokage. It’s his duty to take care of everyone in Konoha. Everyone - the shinobi and the civilians, no matter their age or what they look like or what they do for a living - is like family to the Hokage. You must love and protect your family. The Hokage loves and protects this village. Do  _you_  think he could take a break?”

Kakashi pouted and looked away, gripping handfuls of the white sheet around him and pulling his shoulders up to his ears which knocked his hat forward. “I think he deserves one. Tousan?”

“Mhm?”

“Does the Hokage have a real family?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You said that the village is like the Hokage’s family.” Kakashi tried desperately to keep the hat - which Sakumo now noticed had been made much too large for his head - upright so he could see properly. “But does the Hokage have a real family? Does he have someone at  _his_  home?”

“Do you mean the Sandaime Hokage?”

Kakashi nodded and the hat slipped down over his eyes again.

Sakumo pondered this for a moment and then shrugged. “I don’t know, honestly. There are many things I don’t know, Kakashi, especially about the Hokage. The Sandaime Hokage has secrets, just like everyone else, and he has things that aren’t necessarily secrets - but they’re things he doesn’t publicly share. Not everything needs to be broadcast to the world.” Sakumo roughly grabbed the sheet from Kakashi and pulled it tight over his shoulders, smoothing out the front, and folding the corners back to create sleeves. He smiled warmly, “But you shouldn’t worry about him.”

“Tousan?”

“Yes?”

“Does the Hokage have to give up everything?”

Puzzled, Sakumo searched Kakashi’s face but the boy refused to look at him. “What do you mean by that?”

“Does the Hokage have to give up … his family? And his friends? And his hobbies? All he does is sit in his office doing paperwork, right? That sounds boring.”

Sakumo’s shoulders relaxed and he let out a soft laugh. “Oh, that. Yes, the Hokage does have to prioritize paperwork over socializing. But it’s for the good of the village. And he doesn’t have to give up his family and friends - but he must decide which is more important in that moment. Sometimes you must sacrifice time with your family so you can better serve the village. You know that, right?”

Kakashi nodded and made a face when Sakumo reached out to wipe a bit of dried paint off of his chubby cheek.

“For all you know, Kakashi, you may be in the same position one day. Are you prepared for that?”

Kakashi made another face and turned around swiftly, huffing. “Tousan, it’s only a game! I’m not  _really_  the Hokage! And if being Hokage means that I have to give up time with my family and friends and that I can’t do what I want, then I hope I never become Hokage.”

Sakumo chuckled lowly and patted the crumbling hat on Kakashi’s head. “You may be surprised.”

“But we’re just playing pretend right now, Tousan. Okay?”

“Right. So what does the playing-pretend-for-now Hokage want to do? Can I get you something to eat or drink?”

Kakashi thought for a moment before nodding firmly, “I want miso soup - with eggplant! And I want you to read to me, Tousan.”

“Mhm, I see. You know, Hokage-sama, or - is this Kakashi?”

“No, I’m the Hokage.”

“Hokage-sama, then, I think I may have something just for you. Why don’t you wait on the couch over there?”

Kakashi struggled to waddle over to the couch and climbed onto it. The sheet got caught under his knee and he shot forward into the back cushion, crushing the edge of the Hokage hat. He wrestled with the sheet tangled around his small limbs and finally flipped around into a comfortable position, grumpily trying to straighten out the flattened edge of the hat. Sakumo returned with two steaming bowls of hot miso soup he’d prepared earlier while Kakashi had been painting the Hokage hat, and set them on the small table before them. He sat down next to Kakashi and pulled out a thin book from his pocket.

“Would you like to sit on my lap?”

“Tousan! I’m the Hokage! The Hokage doesn’t sit on people’s laps!”

“Oh, sorry Hokage-sama. Is it alright if I read this book? I believe my son and I were about halfway through. I don’t think he’ll mind if I read some to you, though. I can always go back and reread it with him.”

Kakashi nodded and leaned precariously forward to grab his bowl of soup. Sakumo gently pushed him back into the cushion and placed the hot bowl in his lap, handing him a ceramic spoon.

“Alright - are you ready, Hokage-sama?”

“Mhm,” Kakashi said around a mouthful of soup.

“We were … yes, right here.” Sakumo ran his index finger down the heavily worn page to a middle paragraph, clearing his throat to read the sentence. “Hachiko was waiting patiently at the train station, as he did every day -”

“Tousan?”

“Yes?”

Kakashi sighed heavily and set the spoon down in the bowl. “Hachiko … he’s loyal, like Pakkun.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Well … Will I …” He paused and looked to the feet of the snoring pug sleeping underneath the table. “Will I have to give him up if I become Hokage? You said sometimes the Hokage must sacrifice things … That all shinobi must sacrifice things. You say that a lot … But if I sacrifice things like my friends and family - and Pakkun - does that mean …  _I’m_ not loyal?”

“No, Kakashi. You will not have to sacrifice that. There are some things you will keep with you forever, like Pakkun.” Sakumo turned to watch the small dog - his son’s faithful ninken - twitch in his sleep and paw the ground with his back leg. “Whether you’re Hokage or not … he will be with you forever.”

“What about you, Tousan? Will you be with me forever?”

Sakumo smiled, though sadder this time, and ran his thumb down the pages of the book. “Of course, Kakashi. I will stay with you as long as I can. Surely, though, in your heart I’ll be there forever.” He laughed solemnly, “These are such heavy questions for such a small child. But I suppose it is important for you to ask them … And don’t worry about the other thing …” He smiled down at his son, using his thumb to wipe off a drop of soup from the corner of his mouth. “You’re very loyal, Kakashi. You needn’t concern yourself with thinking you aren’t. When it comes to sacrifices, I believe you will make the right decisions. And hopefully - one day, maybe someday soon, before you are too old - you won’t  _have_  to make those decisions.”

“Good,” said Kakashi suddenly. “I wouldn’t want to give him up!” Turning back to his bowl, Kakashi shoved a spoonful of eggplant into his mouth and chewed aggressively. “Read, Tousan! Read!”

“Okay, okay, Hokage-sama. Now, where was I? Oh, right. Hachiko was waiting patiently at the train station, as he did every day …”

Kakashi leaned his head against Sakumo’s arm and listened intently to every word. Sakumo’s mind drifted, though he recited the words on the pages flawlessly from memory - he’d read this book dozens, no, close to a  _hundred_  times - and he thought of the small body next to him. Sakumo really didn’t know what the future held in store for his son, nor how his son would greet the obstacles he’d surely face as a shinobi of the Leaf Village. But right now, in this tiny moment of reading their favorite book over a bowl of their favorite meal, none of that mattered. Deciding what to sacrifice for the sake of the village didn’t matter. Who he would lose to battles didn’t matter. What trauma he’d face didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Kakashi - this little “Hokage” - was young and innocent and too smart for his own good, and he still loved his father enough to sit next to him while he read. All that mattered was that Kakashi was more than happy to get wrapped up in a bed sheet, wear a painted cardboard hat, and play pretend - and that Sakumo was there to enjoy it too.


End file.
